Since today's verse is the fourth in a
series of four verses, it is not surprising that its subject is our
old friend anyaḥ, the one who is different, the individual, the
one who does not necessarily fit anybody's stereotype, the
non-buddha.

On the face of it dīptaṁ kaḍaṅgaraṁ
parvata-śṛṅga-mātram means a fearful weapon of mass destruction, a blazing fireball as big as a mountain peak. Hence:

Another hurled upon him a mass of
blazing straw as big as a mountain-peak, which, as soon as it was
thrown, while it hung poised in the sky, was shattered into a hundred
fragments by the sage's power. (EBC)

Another flung above him a blazing log
as big as a mountain peak ; no sooner was it discharged than, as it
hung in the sky, it burst into a hundred fragments through the sage's
magic power. (EHJ)

But when we read anyaḥ as
representing a non-buddha, the blazing mass of straw might mean the
whole human world, extending to the peaks of the highest mountains on
every continent.

In that case, cikṣepa
tasyopari which on the surface means “flung above him” is an
ironic description of non-Buddhist altruism – putting the world of
suffering living beings above oneself.

Again,
gagana-stham, which ostensibly means “as [the
fireball]
hung in the sky,” might be an ironic description of the sitting
practice of one who is
“just hanging, in emptiness” --
having
been released by true teaching from the doings which are the root of
saṁsāra.

Gagana,
incidentally,
is as in gagana-kusuma,
which
MW gives as"flower
in the sky," any unreal or fanciful thing, impossibility. In
Shobogenzo, however,
Dogen investigates flowers
in the sky
as something as real as, for example, plum blossoms in early spring.
See especially Shobogenzo chap. 43
whose title空華,
KUGE means “Flowers in the Sky / Space / Emptiness.”

Finally,
then, the world being shattered into a hundred pieces means abstract
conceptions being shattered and everything being realized distinctly
as it is. In the translations of EBC and EHJ this shattering takes
place through the magic power (anubhāvāt) of the sage (tasya), so
that the tasya of the 4th
pāda (the sage) is different from the tasya of the 1st
pāda (the monster). This is as per the ostensible meaning, in which a monster and a bodhisattva are locked in mortal combat. Neither
EBC nor EHJ, evidently, realized the ironic hidden meaning in which. below the surface, there is only enlightened action. If EBC and EHJ had realized this hidden meaning, they might have been bowled over by the brilliance of
Aśvaghoṣa's use of irony.

Speaking
of irony, I listened on Saturday night to a good radio programme by
American
satirist Joe Queenan titled “A Brief History of Irony.”

That programme, and today's verse,
caused me to reflect this morning on the stereotypes of kick-ass
American sincerity vs the British sense of irony.

When we reflect on this dichotomy, in
light of the irony which pervades Aśvaghoṣa's writing, and in light also of the
irony which pervades the koans preserved from the great age of
Chinese Zen, isn't it obvious that the point is to cultivate both sincerity and a sense of irony, together?

Kick-ass sincerity unbridled by any
sense of irony is just the kind of doing which the dopey one does –
the doing which is the root of saṁsāra.

Conversely, irony without sincerity is
just insincerity – another word for ignorance itself.
Ultimately, then, we come back to mindfulness of the noble path of śīla (integrity), samādhi (integration), and prajñā (integral wisdom) -- and equally to mindfulness of the principle that any Zen master who could fake those three, might have got it made.

mātra: ifc.
having the measure of i.e. as large or high or long or broad or deep
or far or much or many

yad
(acc. sg.): which

mukta-mātram
(acc. sg.): as soon as it was released

mātra:
mfn. after a pp. = scarcely , as soon as , merely , just e.g.
jāta-mātra , scarcely or just born

gagana-stham
(acc. sg.): staying in the sky

gagana:
n. the atmosphere , sky , firmament

stha:
(only ifc.) standing , staying , abiding , being situated in ,
existing or being in or on or among ; occupied with , engaged in ,
devoted to performing , practising (» dhyāna-stha absorbed in
meditation)